Human Trafficking · Full chronicle and history

On November 10, thousands of comments appeared under a Douyin video related to human trafficking, with many netizens sharing their own experiences or those of people around them who had been trafficked.

On October 28, anti-trafficking volunteer Shangguan Zhengyi posted on Weibo that he has offended too many people, that someone reminded him to watch out for his safety, and that at last year's Southeast Asia Forum, someone offered a bounty to "take him down".

On October 20, Argentina's Federal Police reported that a farm in Pilar, Buenos Aires Province, had lured workers from Santa Fe Province with fake job offers, confiscated their documents, and forced them to plant and harvest vegetables under threat of gunfire. Police rescued 4 workers and detained 9 suspects — 7 Chinese nationals, 1 Taiwanese, and 1 Argentine — and also arrested a Taiwanese suspect responsible for recruitment in Santa Fe Province.

The U.S. State Department released a trafficking in persons report, noting that China has widespread forced labor policies and downgrading Hong Kong to the lowest Tier 3 list.

On October 2, the Philippine Bureau of Immigration raided two locations in Sibuco, Zamboanga, suspected of illegal offshore gambling, detaining 244 foreign nationals, most of them Chinese. They will be deported for suspected violations of immigration laws and placed on a blacklist banning re-entry. About 3,000 mobile phones, 78 monitors and other devices were also seized at the scene. Their identities, nationalities and possible involvement in human trafficking are still under investigation.

On October 2, according to the Philippine state radio station and GMA, the Philippine military conducted raids on suspected scam dens in the towns of Alicia and Siay in Zamboanga Sibugay Province, with about 200 of those checked being of Chinese nationality. About 2000 phones and multiple computers were seized at the scene. The military said there may be victims of human trafficking among them, and the authorities are investigating whether anyone was coerced or illegally recruited.

Sun Meihua's daughter has hired a lawyer to help her mother apply for the restoration of her original Beijing household registration, and has asked her father to sign a commitment ensuring her mother's safety and to relinquish the relevant guardianship rights; the report did not state whether the demands were met.

The Douyin, Weibo, and Bilibili accounts of anti-trafficking volunteer Shangguan Zhengyi have published no new content since their last update on September 25. As of October 7, they have been inactive for nearly two weeks, and many netizens have asked in the comments about his safety.

Independent media outlet Aquarius Era reported on September 26 that police have been standing guard 24 hours a day outside the home of Sun Meihua's brother-in-law Liu Anjun since September 24. Liu Anjun had previously repeatedly asked police to investigate Sun Meihua's disappearance and suspected trafficking.

Police in Chonburi Province, Thailand, raided a villa in Bang Lamung District, rescuing three Chinese women who had been lured into companion work, detained, and extorted. Four Chinese suspects were arrested at the scene.

Anti-trafficking volunteer Shangguan Zhengyi discovered through investigations that some underground surrogacy agencies intentionally have surrogate mothers conceive twins and sell the surplus infants through human traffickers for about 160,000 RMB each.

On September 19, volunteer Shangguan Zhengyi reported that a mentally disabled woman, approximately 40 years old, in Yexian, Pingdingshan, Henan, was allegedly brought back from Hainan to cohabitate with a local man when she was 17 years old. The man claimed the woman was born in 1988, but her household registration states 1977. Currently, the woman's identity, the process by which she was taken away, and the authenticity of her household registration remain to be verified, and volunteers are calling on local authorities to intervene and investigate.

On September 17, volunteer Shangguan Zhengyi exposed that a disabled man in Huguan County, Changzhi City, Shanxi Province, had been illegally held by a foreman and forced to perform hard labor at a cattle farm for over 30 years. The man claims to be from Henan, and his wages were withheld by the foreman, who claimed the man was "picked up." After Shangguan Zhengyi reported the case to the police, local authorities failed to respond within 25 minutes. The man's identity and the details of his confinement are still under investigation.

Volunteer searcher Du Xiaohua posted a video report; in the case that attracted attention after reporting Sun Meihua's abuse, the “Uncle Long” who had long controlled Sun Meihua’s cohabitation has been taken by local police for investigation.

On September 12, Liu Anjun went to the Beijing Guangnei Police Station and other departments to demand clarification on Sun Meihua's suspected abandonment, trafficking, and purchase of persons, and was told that the case was still ongoing and that information was kept confidential from non-direct family members.

Taiwan's Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office reported on September 9th that they had dismantled an organ trafficking ring composed of seven adult defendants. The group recruited victims online, planning to control them and smuggle them to mainland China for organ harvesting. Those involved have been investigated and dealt with according to law.

On September 11, 2026, a popular Weibo influencer posted that discussions related to the Sun Meihua abduction case were being massively deleted and suppressed. Videos posted by bloggers who participated in the rescue have also disappeared. Sun Meihua originally lived in Beijing's Second Ring Road, spoke English, and was involved in foreign trade. She was abducted to a rural area at the age of 32 and suffered for 26 years. The methods of abduction and the progress of the case investigation, which have garnered public attention, have not yet been disclosed, and the official response has raised questions.

On September 11, the Weibo and Xiaohongshu platforms carried out large-scale post deletions and search blocking of discussions related to Sun Meihua, who has been missing for 26 years while searching for her family and is suspected of having been abducted and sold to Cao County, Shandong. The relevant original posts were set to private, and related messages can no longer be found in search results.

The Yuelu District Health Bureau reported the sealing of an illegal surgery room in a residential community, with 6 people under control; whistleblower Shangguan Zhengyi revealed that 2 key figures have been brought to justice.

Sun Meihua, who had been missing for 26 years, was brought back to Beijing from Cao County, Shandong, by her brother on September 8. Her sister Sun Cuihua said she was blocked by her brother right after a brief video call; her brother-in-law Liu Anjun, who is also in Beijing, had returned for more than two weeks and received only one recent photo.

According to her family member Liu Anjun, Sun Meihua, who had been missing for 26 years, was brought back to Beijing by her brother from Cao County, Shandong on September 8. After that, her brother blocked Liu Anjun and Sun Meihua's sister, refused to arrange any more video calls, and did not allow Liu Anjun to visit in person.

On August 28, 2026, anti-trafficking volunteer Shangguan Zhengyi confirmed that a disabled man who had lived at a pig farm in Zhengyang County, Henan for nearly ten years successfully located relatives he had been separated from for over thirty years.

On August 23, family-search volunteer Du Xiaohua visited Sun Meihua, reported the case to police and released a video. According to his relay of the police notification, Sun Meihua was subsequently placed in a local nursing home on August 31.

Shangguan Zhengyi assisted police (Public Security) in arresting human traffickers and surrogacy agency personnel, and rescued a surrogate infant who was about to be sold.

On August 2, 2026, volunteer Shangguan Zhengyi released a video reporting that an unidentified man had been staying and working at a local scrap recycling station in Zhuolu County, Zhangjiakou, Hebei, for as long as 16 years, and called on police to verify his identity and help him find his family.

After the girl sought help online, a public welfare organization involving Tencent employees placed her to work at a café on Shenzhen's Penguin Island; the hired kidnappers subsequently staked out near the café multiple times and disguised themselves as customers to case the place.

On July 18, 2026, anti-trafficking volunteer Shangguan Zhengyi revealed that an intellectually disabled woman in Mawujiu Town, Renqiu, Hebei had been illegally taken in and controlled by a man for as long as 20 years, with no household registration or identity. When he reported the case to local police, they bucked responsibility and demanded verification of the whistleblower's identity.

CCTV cited data from the Ministry of Public Security stating that the number of criminal cases nationwide decreased by 16.1% year-on-year from January to May. However, the phenomenon of multiple regions investing financially in expanding detention centers and prisons has led to external doubts about the real public security situation.

Police suspect that at least 500 foreign children may have obtained Thai nationality through falsified birth registrations, with the case involving five private hospitals in Bangkok and suspects recruiting clients through Chinese-language chat groups.

Thai police and the Ministry of Interior's Department of Local Administration simultaneously searched 42 locations across the country and obtained 40 arrest warrants, with those sought including a Chinese national mother, a Thai man suspected of posing as the father, and other foreign nationals.

The Thai man involved impersonated the biological father on birth registration documents, charging about 2,000 to 15,000 baht each time; police said some of the men had signed paternity acknowledgment documents for Chinese families.

Around May 2026, family-search volunteer "Chuxin" obtained Sun Meihua's ID documents from "Uncle Long" in exchange for giving her a phone, and collected her blood to search for her family.

In 2025, Hong Kong recorded a total of 89,137 criminal cases, 50% more than the 59,225 cases in 2019. Among them, 43,212 were fraud cases, accounting for half, with victims defrauded of HK$8.1 billion. Fraud cases have multiplied fivefold from fewer than 10,000 in 2019.

Data shows that in 2024, the annual number of criminal cases filed by Chinese police (Public Security) exceeded 10 million, a sharp increase compared to 2000, with the majority of short-sentence cases involving various "pocket crimes."

A man with an intellectual disability went missing in the Guangzhou and Foshan area in 2004. His family searched for him for 22 years, and only learned of his whereabouts in September 2026.